


Mental Shrapnel

by mggislife2789



Category: Criminal Minds, Spencer Reid - Fandom
Genre: F/M, First Meetings, Friendship, Reader-Insert, Self-Doubt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-06
Updated: 2017-07-06
Packaged: 2018-11-28 15:19:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11420715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mggislife2789/pseuds/mggislife2789
Summary: Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or their original stories. This is only for fun. It's where my brain goes after the credits roll. No copyright intended. Better safe than sorry. ;)





	Mental Shrapnel

It took weeks of planning for Spencer to finally find a good time to introduce you to his team, which was fine by you, because you were panicking - sometimes outwardly, you would say a little something, but even more on the inside. Basically think any gif of an explosion and that’s what was constantly going on inside your head - permanent explosion, shrapnel everywhere, like mental shrapnel - they were going to hate you and this was going to suck. 

Frantically, you sped across the room, decked out only in a mismatched set of bra and panties, putting pair after pair of jeans, skirts, blouses, and tanks, trying to figure out the best outfit to wear to make the best impression. Spencer was just staring at you slack-jawed. “What? What’s up babe?”

“Why are you panicking?” he asked. “You’re flustered. You’re indecisive. You’re exhibiting a level of self-doubt I’ve never seen from you before.”

You couldn’t but giggle. “Yup. Sounds about right. Welcome to a relationship with me, my love.” Pulling on a pair of jeans, you toppled back on the bed, doing you best to shimmy them on before realizing they just weren’t worth the effort. “I’m freaking out.”

Skirt. Flowing, non-constricting purple skirt. That was going to have to do because that was honestly about all your body could handle right now. 

“Why are you freaking out?”

You popped up and rested your hands on your hips, still not having decided on a shirt yet. “Do you really not know?” You asked, completely dumbfounded. Spencer had an IQ of 187 for fucks sake and he didn’t understand why you were about to burst? “Seriously?”

“No!” he shrieked. The decibel he hit was astounding, and rather funny. 

Running over to the closet, you pulled out a range of tank tops and graphic tees. Again, you needed freedom; you were panicking enough. “I am bugging out because I am meeting your friends today. The people you talk about all the time. The people that even though I’ve never met you would absolutely kill for. I’m meeting your family basically.”

“Yea,” he said confused, “So?”

“So? SO WHAT IF THEY DON’T LIKE ME?” 

Eventually, you decided on a possibility of three different tops - a plain, white tank top, a black graphic t-shirt with Black Panther on it, and a gray graphic tee with the Wonder Woman symbol on it. “Which one?” 

Without missing a beat, he pointed toward the Wonder Woman one, which you pulled on and then realized that the skirt was purple and didn’t match, so you pulled out the same one in blue and switched to that. “Why wouldn’t they like you?” he asked.

“Because I’m your complete opposite!” you cried as you ran over to your dresser to pick out some jewelry. “I am loud, obnoxious, I’m not ugly, but I’m basically average looking, I have nowhere near 187 IQ…have I said I’m loud and obnoxious? I could go on all day. What if they think I’m not good enough for you?”

After finally settling on the right necklace and your great-grandmother’s old ring, Spencer grabbed your wrists just as you were about to go into a tailspin again. “It sounds to me like you don’t think you’re good enough for me. My friends would never think that about you. All they want is for me to be happy.” He hesitated a few seconds as his face dropped. “D-Do you not think you’re good enough for me?”

“Well, no,” you said. “Not really. I wanted to go out with you more than anything so when you asked me out, I said yes, but in all honesty, I figured you’d realize that we were too different for this to work and you would walk…I’m kind of still waiting for that day.” Your face fell, never having actually admitted the thought out loud. “You know my self-esteem issues, I’ve never really felt good enough for anyone.”

Spencer had small tears in his eyes. He caressed the side of your face, his fingers getting tangled in your hair. “You are more than good enough,” he said softly, as he kissed your forehead. “I-I love you.”

“Really?” you asked, your panic from earlier dissipating into something even scarier - reality. “I love you too.” 

For a few seconds, all of your worries faded to the background as Spencer took his lips in yours. You did love him, so much; you’d just always been afraid the feeling would never be returned. “We don’t have to do this tonight if you don’t want to,” he said as he kissed the tip of your nose. “We could always do something else.” He raised an eyebrow and you couldn’t help but laugh; he was such a dork. 

“As much as I’d love to do that something, we’ve been trying to do this for a while, so let’s go and hope they don’t hate me.”

“They won’t.”

—-

Penelope was an easy one to convince. She showed up looking a lot like you - bright and colorful, with the add on of streaked hair and way too many pieces of jewelry. Immediately, she’d pointed to your shirt and made a comment about Wonder Woman, and from there, you started talking about the wonder of Diana Prince while you waited for everyone else to arrive. 

Every now and then, Spencer would interject a little fun fact about Wonder Woman, but for the most part he beamed while you spoke with Penelope. Emily was another person you got to talking with quickly. It was mainly the two older ones, Aaron and David, who could easily profile and pick apart every piece of you, and JJ and Morgan, who were probably Spencer’s closest friends. If the latter two didn’t like you, you were screwed. The four you were worried about arrived at the same time, of course. Again, explosions, shrapnel everywhere. “Hi, I’m Y/N Y/L/N. You must be Aaron Hotchner, David Rossi, JJ and Morgan, yes?” God, you sounded like an idiot. 

“Love the shirt,” JJ said.

Morgan made a comment that took you off guard. “Pretty Boy, you didn’t tell us how pretty she was. I think she out-pretties you.”

“It’s so nice to meet you,” Aaron said. “And please, call me Hotch. Spencer talks a lot about you.”

“Spencer just talks a lot,” you laughed. He cut his eyes at you, but everybody else laughed.

“You get that too?” Emily asked, as you all made your way inside. 

Nearly two hours later, you were all still sitting in the restaurant. “Oh look at that phone case,” Penelope said, “It’s so cute.” She reached across the table and began to program everyone’s numbers into it. “Us girls need to get together soon and drink our faces off.”

“I’m good for that,” JJ laughed; she was still twirling the straw from her drink in the glass.

“Yea, you’ll have to dish on Spencer in bed,” Emily laughed. Hotch and Rossi were just rolling their eyes at their overgrown children while the rest of them giggled. 

Morgan took back the rest of his drink, which at this point seemed to be just ice. “Oh, man, I don’t want to hear about that. Good thing I won’t be there.”

“Really now?” Spencer exclaimed. He put his head in his hands. 

You leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “Don’t worry, babe. All good things.”

Everyone cooed at how cute you were as you leaned over and convinced Spencer that his friends would have to get you very, very drunk in order to get anything truly embarrassing out of you. And by the time the bill came, which Rossi snatched out of the middle of the table, everyone was insisting on going out again sometime soon. 

“Feel better?” Spencer asked as you walked back to the car.

For the first time in quite a while, you could answer honestly. “Yea. Much. I think I’ve won them over.”

“I told you, you would.”


End file.
